ST. LEO, Fla. – In a battle of top-25 teams the No. 4 ranked Sailfish came away victorious once again, defeating No. 21 Saint Leo 3-0 on Saturday afternoon.
The 'Fish (9-0, 4-0 SSC) were pushed in each set – 27-25, 25-20, 25-23 – but still managed to pick up their eighth sweep of the year. The depth of the 'Fish showed on this day as six players recorded at least five kills and five had at least five digs. Freshman
Jazz Schmidt led the way with eight kills and a .333 attack percentage. She added four assists, four digs and a block.
Ally Rohn also collected eight kills in the match to go along with 17 assits and seven digs. PBA struggled to get their offense on track most of the match, finishing with a .202 attack percentage in the match, but were able to hold the Lions (6-1, 1-1 SSC) to a .128 clip.
The Sailfish trailed early on in set one by scores of 8-3 and 12-7 but an 8-1 run put them up 14-13. The teams traded leads until PBA took a 24-22 lead on an ace from Rohn. The Lions responded and tied the set 24-24 but PBA prevailed on a kill from
Abby Palkert, her only attack of the match.
In the second the 'Fish built an early 10-5 lead only to have the Lions rally late and pull within two at 22-20. After a timeout by PBA, Rohn picked up a kill followed by a block from
Raegan Grooms and
Sarah Kimmey and finally an attack error by the Lions put the Sailfish up 2-0 heading into the break.
Neither team was able to take a big advantage in the third set as PBA held the largest lead at 15-12. Saint Leo scored two straight to go up 23-22 but PBA found a way to win the final three points thanks to a service error and two attack errors from the Lions.
Grooms led the team with six blocks and 15 digs to go along with six kills.
Molly Burkhardt posted another double double with 17 assists and 12 digs while also adding two kills.
Sarah Kimmey hit .625 with five kills on eight swings to go along with five blocks on the afternoon while her fellow middle,
Maddie Span, collected seven kills and five blocks.
Overall the Sailfish recorded 11 team blocks and 56 digs to go along with 42 kills.
Susie Forbes added 10 digs for PBA while
Sophie Hoekstra added five kills and three blocks.
The Sailfish will finally get to play at home on Tuesday after the Bash at the Beach was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma earlier this month. PBA will take on Florida Tech at 7 p.m. before playing host to Tampa (Friday) and Florida Southern (Saturday, Sept. 30) in a three-match homestand.
